Safety stopper

ABSTRACT

A safety closure having a soft resilient stopper portion adapted to be inserted into a bottle opening and resiliently engaging sealingly against the inner surface of the bottle opening, which comprises a resilient bottom stopper part adapted to be inserted into the bottle and resiliently engaging the inner walls thereof. The resilient bottom stopper part has an upper part outside of the bottle. A rigid upper portion is connected to the upper part bottom stopper part and disposed outside of the bottle. A rigid stick member abuts the bottom stopper portion and extends through and is guided by the upper portion and terminates adjacent thereto in ends spaced apart slightly less than the average size of an adult&#39;&#39;s thumb, and at least one area on said upper portion is provided between said ends.

United States Patent [191 Lehr May 7, 1974 SAFETY STOPPER Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton [76] Inventor: David Lehr, 79 Lloyd Rd.,

Montclair, NJ. 07042 1 ABSTRACT A safety closure having a soft resilient stopper portion [22] Flled' May 1972 adapted to be inserted into a bottle opening and resil- [21] App]. No.: 256,656 iently engaging sealingly against the inner surface of the bottle opening, which comprises a resilient bottom stopper part adapted to be inserted into the bottle and [2%] (5|. 213/695,: 213% resiliently engaging the inner walls thereofl The resil d 215/9 ient bottom stopper part has an upper part outside of le o are the bottle A rigid upper portion is connected to the upper part bottom stopper part and disposed outside [56] References c'ted of the-bottle. A rigid stick member abuts the bottom UNITED STATES PATENTS stopper portion and extends through and is guided by 343,646 6/1886 Morehousei 215/52 the upper portion and terminates adjacent thereto in Murdock r i ends paced apart less than the average ize of g t an adults thumb, and at least one area on said upper gger 3,604,583 9/1971 Linkletter 215/9 9 lsvprovlded between ends 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEB MAY 7 I974 VI I SAFETY STOPPER The present invention relates to a safety closure device for releasably closing bottles, and more particularly, to a safety closure device with a pin equipped top.

The need for releasable bottle closures which are safe against being accidentally opened by children is most urgent due to increased use of medicines and substances stored in bottles around the household which can be injurious to children.

Although many devices for such closures have been proposed hitherto, none have been considered overall as acceptable as that of the present invention for preventing the inadvertentopening by children.

In one prior art structure, namely U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,848, there is known a resilient cap which is provided on the outside of the bottle and cooperates with external bottle ridges and, upon pressing down a central top portion for release, the outer edges move outwardly of a rounded portion for the release. Then, a turning of the closure causes curved surfaces of the projection to move longitudinally'upward for disengagement.

Another known device, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,322, shows a bottle cap closure member adapted to snap over the outside of the mouth of a bottle, having a peripheral lip and a locking ring as a separate element releasably surrounding the closure member to secure it in place. The closure member and the locking ring have cooperating safety surfaces for locking the members together. By pressing down on the closure member, a radial projection thereon disengages from a groove in the locking ring, and the latter can be pushed away and the closure member then removed.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,583 discloses a container in which a closure cap is provided for being inserted into a bottle and there are provided cooperating triangularly shaped engagement lips on the closure member and on the inside of the bottle at the top, respectively, which lockingly interengage. The top of the closure member has integrally depending therefrom, a central web which terminates against the bottom of the closure cap and, upon pressing the top 'of the closure member, the web causes an inward-moving deformation of the V-shaped edges of the bottom of the closure 'cap and the operating V-flanges disengage and the cap may be removed.

Another bottle cap, U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,088, relates to a safety closure for screwing on the outside of a bottle on threads integral therewith. On the closure cap, depending from a pressure column, is a leaf spring which lockingly engages in teeth formed in the inside of the bottle, and which prevents the bottle cap from being screwed off. Upon exerting downward pressure against the top closure or diaphragm, pressure is transmitted to the leaf spring by the pressure column, deforming the spring downwardly, and releasing it from engagement with the teeth on the inside of thebottle, thus permitting the screw to be unscrewed.

None of the above devices are completely satisfactory. Some require several operations for use and removal, have complicated special structures and are even not completely satisfactory in use, for security, to

effectively achieve the desired function.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety closure device which is simple in construction, yet readily removed by an adult but not removable by a child.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a child-proof removable stopper closure of which the removal takes place by exerting an axial pressure on the top of the stopper in a downward direction. The top of the device has a center of pin-like projections which are surrounded by fork portions which are of such diameter that only an adults thumb may fit thereon to exert pressure on the fork without touching the pin-like projections therebetween. Due to the small size of the thumb of a child, 48 months :6 months, the center fork cannot be covered by a childs relatively smaller finger, but will, rather, touch the pointed pinlike projections therebetween, which will be painful to the child, and downward pressure will be ineffective.

Upon pressing down on the fork by an adults thumb, the hard plastic stick which extends through the top portion of the cap causes a deformation of the engaging faces of the lower soft plastic stopper portion inside the bottle, causing the stopper portion to be narrowed beyond the narrow most opening of the bottle, whereupon the bottle stopper may then be removed. Removal can be accomplished only by exerting continuous downward pressure on the fork, while index and ring fingers simultaneously hug the bottom face of the mushroom type top and exert an upward pull.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view in elevation of a bottle cap safety stopper in accordance with the present invention shown in the inserted position in a bottle, closing the bottle, a portion of the bottle being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 cut showing the closure cap being removed from the bottle;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the closure of FIG. 1 shown at smaller scale; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of another embodiment of the present invention, showing a bottle stoppercap locked in a bottle.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, a closure cap 1 in accordance with the present invention has an upper part 3 and an insertable bottom stopper part 5- for being inserted into and ex-' tending beyond the top of a bottle 6. The stopper part 5 is resilient and substantially of the configuration in the stopping position as shown, and adapted to resiliently engage frustroconically narrowing walls of a bottle opening 7, although not limited thereto. The upperpart 3 of the closure cap is disposed outside of the opening 7 of the bottle 6 and is made of hard plastic, forming corners 8.

The upper part 3 of the closure cap 1 is formed with two centrally symmetric slots 9 through which slots extend fork ends 10 of a stick 11 which is made of hard, preferably plastic, material.

A plurality of pointed teeth 3a or the like are disposed on the upper part 3 between the fork ends 10 as indicated in FIGS. 1, Zand 3, to prevent a small childs thumb from pressing the closure cap downwardly at the center, the fork ends 10 being designed so as to be spaced apart by a distance greater than the width of the childrens thumb, so that a childs finger could not span both ends of the fork simultaneously, which is necessary for the release of the closure cap 1.

The stopper part includes as its upper portion an upper part 4 which engages and overlaps the peripheral portion of the upper part 3 and has a wall engaging portion 2 as well as a bottom portion 12.

The closure cap 1 is hollow and the stick ll centrally extends longitudinally therein abutting its bottom centrally against the bottom portion 12 of the lower stopper part 5. A sleeve 13 can be secured, as by welding, to the center of the bottom face of the stopper part 5 and serves as a guide for the stick 11 inserted therein. In position in the bottle, due to the resiliency of the stopper part 5, the latter expands sealingly to the inner face of the bottle 6, which inner face is preferably of a frustroconical narrowing configuration as illustrated.

In operation, in order to remove the closure cap 1 and to open the bottle, an adult thumb is positioned on top of the fork ends 10, as illustrated by the thumb in dashed lines in FIG. 2. The thumb of an adult is larger than the spacing of the fork ends and accordingly,

the. thumb does not touch points 3a which terminate below the fork ends 10 and are arranged on the top face of the upper part 3 between the fork ends. Pressure exerted against the points 3a does not result in the removal of the closure cap.

Yet upon pressing down on the fork ends 10, the stick 11 moves downwardly, and the fork ends 10 slide through the slots 9. The downward movement of the rigid stick 11 causes an elongation of the soft resilient stopper portion 5, causing it to assume an outermost diameter smaller than the innermost diameter of the narrowest portion of the bottle 6, namely, that of its opening portion ,7. Simultaneously, as shown in FIG. 2, twoother fingers (also shown in dashed-lines) of the person who is openingthe bottle are placed under the lower part4, and thebottom stopper'part 5 of the'closure cap' 1 are now maintained in an extended position, whereupon the closure cap 1 may be lifted out ,of the bottle 6 with the stopper portion 5 remaining elongated and of a smaller diameter than the bottle opening 7.

To close the bottle, the reverse procedure is followed.

Such a bottle closure cap is designed that it may not be opened by a child.

Further, if a child would press down merely on one end 7 of the fork, an eccentric or angular force would be effected on the stick 11, causing it to move to one side, not axially downwardly, and this would not cause the deformation or elongation of the bottom stopper portion 5 sufficiently to remove the bottle cap 1.

The bottle 6 may be made of any type of material, as glass, plastic, metal, or the like.

FIG. 3 shows the fork ends 10 having a substantially elongated but parallel shape.

Referring again now to the'drawings and more particularly to FIG. 4, another embodiment is illustrated wherein a closure capl' is provided which is identical with the previously disclosed cap, except for the configuration of the lower part of the stopper.

Instead of the bottle being formed frustroconically as in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottle 6' is formed cylindrically adjacent its opening 16 and forms an upwardly directed angular notch 14 of an extent less than 90 formed by the cylindrical inner wall 15' of the neck of the bottle 6' and a downwardly extending ridge 16, which cooperates with a substantially complementary angular edge point 17 formed on the extremity'of the bottom por-' tion of the resilient stopper portion 5 of the closure cap 1. From the edge point 17, the stopper portion 5 continues in an upwardly curved surface 18, forming an annular space 19' adjacent a thickened cylindrical top portion 20' of the bottle 6, and further presses thereagainst adjacent the opening of the bottle 6', and tapering to the end of the bottle 6 at stopper portion 20 to which the rigid abutment part 4' of the closure cap 1 is connected. a

The stopper portion 5 is deformable and functions similarly to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 3. Upon pressing the fork ends 10' downwardly, in the same manner as illustrated in FIG. 2, by an adults thumb, the

stick 11' elongates the bottom 13' of the stopper portion 5 and causes the V-shaped edge point 17 to pivot and change its angle to pass inwardly over the bottommost innermost point 16' of the ridge and onto the upwardly inclined surface 16 of the bottle adjacent thereto, whereupon the bottle cap 1 may be withdrawn, similar to the manner as explained in connection with FIG. 2.

For inserting the cap of FIG. 4, it is merely necessary to reverse the removal procedure and then to'push the closure cap into the bottle 6' and then release same.

Due to the formation and resiliency of the bottom stopper portion 5, it is only necessary to push the closure caps 1' into the bottle without even rever'singly repeating the opening procedure.

In view of the unique yet simple structure of the closure cap of the present invention, there are provided advantages and operational excellence heretofore not achieved with safety bottle caps which are child-proof, and which provide savings in costs, and which may be easily molded and manufactured.

While I have disclosed several embodiments'of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are not to be considered in a limitingsense.

part adapted to be disposed outside of said bottle,

a rigid upper portion connected to said upper part bottom stopper part and adapted to be disposed outside of said bottle,

a rigid stick member abutting said bottom stopper portion and extending through and guided by said upper portion and terminating adjacent thereto in ends spaced apart slightly less than the average size of an adults thumb, and at least one area on said upper portion provided between said ends.

2. The safety closure, as set forth in claim I, wherein said rigid upper portion is formed with two slots extending therethrough and spaced apart from each other, through which slots said ends extend slidably relative thereto. 3. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said ends constitute two fork ends.

4. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 3, wherein said two fork ends are disposed parallel to each other.

5. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lower part of said bottom stopper part is substantially frustroconical in shape narrowing toward said upper part and changeable into a substantially elongated formation when the ends of said stick are pressed towards the bottom of said bottom stopper portion.

6. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a central guide sleeve serving as a guide for said rigid stick and connected to said bottom stopper part.

7. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bottom stopper portion has a circumferential upwardly and outwardly pointed edge adapted to sealingly and releasably substantially complementarily engage with a circumferential downwardly and inwardly directed recess in the inner wall of a bottle adjacent a bottle opening, preventing the removal of said stopper.

8. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein which said ends pass. 

1. A safety closure having a soft resilient stopper portion to be inserted into a bottle opening and resiliently engage sealingly against the inner surface of the bottom opening, comprising a resilient bottom stopper part adapted to be inserted into said bottle and resiliently engage the inner walls thereof, said resilient bottom stopper part having an upper part adapted to be disposed outside of said bottle, a rigid upper portion connected to said upper part bottom stopper part and adapted to be disposed outside of said bottle, a rigid stick member abutting said bottom stopper portion and extending through and guided by said upper portion and terminating adjacent thereto in ends spaced apart slightly less than the average size of an adult''s thumb, and at least one area on said upper portion provided between said ends.
 2. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said rigid upper portion is formed with two slots extending therethrough and spaced apart from each other, through which slots said ends extend slidably relative thereto.
 3. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said ends constitute two fork ends.
 4. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 3, wherein said two fork ends are disposed parallel to each other.
 5. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lower part of said bottom stopper part is substantially frustroconical in shape narrowing toward said upper part and changeable into a substantially elongated formation when the ends of said stick are pressed towards the bottom of said bottom stopper portion.
 6. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a central guide sleeve serving as a guide for said rigid stick and connected to said bottom stopper part.
 7. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bottom stopper portion has a circumferential upwardly and outwardly pointed edge adapted to sealingly and releasably substantially complementarily engage with a circumferential downwardly and inwardly directed recess in the inner wall of a bottle adjacent a bottle opening, preventing the removal of said stopper.
 8. The safety closure, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said upper portion comprises an upper part and a lower part, the latter adapted to be positioned on the open end of said bottle, said upper part and said lower part are connected to each other at adjacent circumferential respective edges thereof, and said upper part has slots formed therein through which said ends pass. 